A 7-day St Barts yacht charter itinerary from St Maarten to Antigua: passages, clearance, Gustavia berthing, the best season and key events.
A 7-day Leeward Islands charter itinerary typically runs St Maarten, Anguilla, St Barths, St Kitts and Nevis, then Antigua, or a tighter loop between St Maarten, Anguilla and St Barths for a week that never spends more than a couple of hours under way. The islands are close, the trade winds are consistent and the season, November to April, is the Mediterranean's off-season.
A St Barts yacht charter rarely stays in Gustavia all week; most programmes start in St Maarten and add Anguilla, St Kitts and Nevis or Antigua for variety.
The planning work is administrative as much as nautical: each island is a separate clearance, Gustavia in the festive period is the hardest berth in the Caribbean to secure, and the calendar of events shapes when guests want to be where. This guide sets out how crews plan the week, and where Guest Trip removes the spreadsheet stage.
The dry season from November to April is the charter season; June to November is hurricane season and most yachts are elsewhere. Within the season the calendar drives demand: St Barths at New Year is the single busiest superyacht event in the region, followed by the Bucket Regatta in March, Les Voiles de St Barth in April and Antigua Sailing Week at the end of April. Christmas and New Year berths in Gustavia are arranged months ahead; the port takes no formal reservations but asks yachts to send dimensions in advance, and the harbour is stern-to with your own anchor.
Between events the islands are easy water: 12 to 20-knot trades, short seas on the windward passages, and anchorages that fill in the afternoon rather than the morning. Passages between neighbours are one to three hours; the longer legs to Antigua are half a day.
1. Decide the shape: loop or line
A loop from St Maarten (Anguilla, St Barths and back) suits guests who want maximum beach time and minimal passage. A line from St Maarten to Antigua via St Barths, St Kitts and Nevis suits guests flying out of Antigua and gives a change of scene every day. St Maarten's Princess Juliana airport is the practical arrival point for both; Antigua works for departure or for a reverse route.
2. Plan the clearances as fixed points
Each island is an entry: Dutch Sint Maarten and French Saint-Martin are separate jurisdictions on one island, St Barths is French, Anguilla is British, St Kitts and Nevis is a federation, and Antigua and Barbuda is another. Most islands accept advance notification through SailClear (Anguilla, St Kitts and Nevis, the BVI and others), Antigua uses its own eSeaClear system, and Gustavia offers online pre-clearance up to 24 hours before arrival. Advance notice is not always mandatory but it turns a morning at the customs office into a formality.
3. Book Gustavia and the restaurants together
Port de Gustavia works on VHF channel 12, with the office open 07:00 to 18:00 every day. Send the yacht's dimensions ahead, expect a stern-to berth with your own anchor, and note the no-anchoring channel off Shell Beach marked by yellow buoys. The restaurants that guests ask for by name book out at the same time as the berths, so treat them as one booking exercise.
4. Build the middle around the water
Anguilla's Shoal Bay, St Barths' Colombier (reachable only by boat or on foot), the reefs at Green Island on Antigua's east coast, and Nevis's Pinney's Beach are the swim stops guests remember. Put the toys where the anchorage is calm (the lee sides, mornings) and the tender excursions where the reef is.
custom saved locations with draggable pins let the crew keep their own Caribbean library of beaches and reef stops, and reuse it across the season.
5. Use the trades in your favour
The trade winds are north-easterly to easterly, so the run south from St Barths to St Kitts and on to Antigua is generally comfortable, and the return north can be a slog. Plan lines with the wind and loops with the long leg first. Keep one flexible day for a northerly swell, which can close the west-facing beaches for a morning.
6. Layer the onboard programme onto the islands
Provision fully in St Maarten, which has the region's best superyacht supply; St Barths is excellent but expensive, and the smaller islands are limited. Plan the formal dinners for Gustavia and English Harbour nights, the beach lunches for Anguilla and Nevis, and the spa for the passage days.
spa, room service and activity requests are switched on per yacht with opening hours, so guests ask for what the crew can deliver.
7. Present it as a live page
A Caribbean week has more moving parts than most: clearance timing, swell, a berth that may or may not come through in Gustavia. Publish the itinerary as a guest site the crew can edit, so the plan on the guests' phones is always the current one.
Day 1. Embark Simpson Bay, St Maarten; short hop to a west-coast bay; welcome dinner aboard. Under 1 hour. Day 2. Anguilla: clear in, Shoal Bay swim stop, beach lunch, night at anchor. About 1 to 1.5 hours. Day 3. St Barths: clear in at Gustavia, afternoon at Colombier, dinner ashore. About 2 hours. Day 4. St Barths second day: Gustavia berth, shopping and beach club, evening in town. Alongside. Day 5. St Kitts and Nevis: passage south with the trades, Pinney's Beach, quiet night. About 3 to 4 hours. Day 6. Antigua: clear in, Green Island reef or Nonsuch Bay, spa afternoon. About 4 to 5 hours. Day 7. English Harbour and Nelson's Dockyard; disembarkation brief. Under 1 hour
A St Maarten loop replaces days five to seven with a second Anguilla day, a St Barths reserve day and a short return to Simpson Bay. Passage times assume a comfortable displacement cruising speed.
Two or three nights in St Barts is usually enough for the beaches, Gustavia and dinner ashore. A seven-day charter lets you add St Maarten, Anguilla or a passage south towards Antigua, which keeps the week from feeling like one harbour.
The dry season from November to April. New Year's Eve in Gustavia is the busiest superyacht week in the Caribbean; March brings the Bucket Regatta and April Les Voiles de St Barth. Hurricane season runs June to November.
Roughly 15 nautical miles, or one to two hours at displacement speed. St Maarten to Anguilla is a similar short hop; St Barths to Antigua is around 75 to 80 miles direct, usually split via St Kitts and Nevis.
Each island is a separate clearance. Many use SailClear for advance notification (Anguilla, St Kitts and Nevis, the BVI and others); Antigua and Barbuda uses eSeaClear; Port de Gustavia in St Barths offers online pre-clearance up to 24 hours ahead and works on VHF channel 12.
Only with early planning. The port does not take formal reservations but asks yachts to send dimensions well in advance; berths are stern-to with your own anchor, and demand over Christmas and New Year exceeds supply, so many yachts anchor outside and tender in.
Clearances, port hours and berths attached to the day they belong to.
Custom pins for the anchorages and tender stops you trust, reused all season.
Every passage drawn on navigable water, with an overview chart of the whole week.
Change the plan when the swell or the berth does, without re-sending.
How to Build a Charter Guest Preference Sheet the Whole Crew Actually Uses
Attach clearances and berths to the day, pin the beaches you trust, and publish a guest-ready site that stays current.